At the time, most bicycle manufacturers in the United States sold in bulk to department stores, which in turn sold them as store brand models. F. Goodrich bicycles, sold in tire stores, Schwinn eliminated the practice of producing private label bicycles in 1950, insisting that the Schwinn brand and guarantee appear on all products. In exchange for ensuring the presence of the Schwinn name, distributors retained the right to distribute Schwinn bikes to any hardware store, toy store, or bicycle shop that ordered them. W. Schwinn schwinn beach cruiser tasked a new team to plan future business strategy, consisting of marketing supervisor Ray Burch, general manager Bill Stoeffhaas, and design supervisor Al Fritz. While every large bicycle manufacturer sponsored or participated in bicycle racing competition of some sort to keep up with the newest trends in technology, Schwinn had restricted its racing activities to events inside the United States, where Schwinn bicycles predominated. As a result, Schwinns became increasingly dated in both styling and technology.
A growing number of US teens and young adults were purchasing imported European sport racing or sport touring bicycles, many fitted with multiple derailleur-shifted gears. Schwinn decided to meet the challenge by developing two lines of sport or road ‘racer’ bicycles. One was already in the catalog — the limited production Paramount series. As always, the Paramount spared no expense; the bicycles were given high-quality lightweight lugged steel frames using double-butted tubes of Reynolds 531 and fitted with quality European components including Campagnolo derailleurs, hubs, and gears. The Paramount series had limited production numbers, making vintage examples quite rare today.
Schwinn’s new company coincided with a sudden bicycle craze in America. Chicago became the center of the American bicycle industry, with thirty factories schwinn dealers turning out thousands of bikes every day. Bicycle output in the United States grew to over a million units per year by the turn of the 20th century.
The little chainring up front wasn’t really little at 49 teeth. The rear wheel had a freewheel that resembled a pine cone, with Pete employing a gear range of only 13 to 17 teeth. The Paramount was developed for track and road racing by Emil Wastyn, a 6 day racing frame builder, mechanic and Schwinn dealer in Chicago, who immigrated from Belgium. Good mathematics doesn’t always help you when it comes to bicycle tires. For example, most “middleweight” Schwinns take 26 x 1 3/4 tires, which are hard to find, not 26 x 1.75 as used on other brands.
W. Schwinn returned to Chicago and in 1933 introduced the Schwinn B-10E Motorbike, actually a youth’s bicycle designed to imitate a motorcycle. The company’s next answer to requests for a Schwinn mountain bike was the King Sting and the Sidewinder, inexpensive BMX-derived bicycles fabricated from existing electro-forged frame designs, and using off-the-shelf BMX parts. This proved to be a major miscalculation, as several new United States startup companies began producing high-quality frames designed from the ground up, and sourced from new, modern plants in Japan and Taiwan using new mass-production technologies such as TIG welding.
Tip #3 – Before deciding on a price, look at its condition. If it’s a Schwinn old school bike in poor condition, or even worse, if it doesn’t function the way it should, you might want to lower the price a bit. 1960 Schwinn bike value back then used to cost $29 to $49. Now, this item in the year 1960 is the most expensive Schwinn bike. On the other hand, the Phantom model bike is known to be the most complete bike ever because of its inclusion of luxury equipment and other exclusive features.
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1970s Schwinn bicycles are just the same as the first 1940 bike models, with just a few minor upgrades. However, the Bantam bike model in 1973 was significantly special because it can be transformed from being a male bike to a female bike just by removing certain parts. At this time, there have been numerous models of Schwinn bikes. Examples of these are Bantam, Phantom, Pixie, and several more. Depending on the year and the model, you can tell whether it’s expensive or slightly cheaper than the others.